April 2017 Archives

In a multi-faceted sexual harassment claim, this story has more cross-overs than a bar exam fact-pattern. First, Matthew Bailey sued the University of Iowa to keep the law school from suspending him. Then he sued a fellow student who allegedly harassed him. Now he is suing the law school for failing to investigate his harassment claim.

Oh, and then there's the disorderly conduct matter against Bailey. Wait, maybe this is a typical college case.

Like those tricky LSAT questions, the counter-intuitive choice here is the correct answer. According to Malcolm Gladwell, the famed columnist and author on relative choices, going to the best law school actually hurts your chances of success in the real world.

"There's no direct way to measure the quality of an institution -- how well a college manages to inform, inspire, and challenge its students," he said. "So the U.S. News algorithm relies instead on proxies for quality -- and the proxies for educational quality turn out to be flimsy at best."

Not all drug wars take place on the streets. Some spill over into the courts.

In the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a long-fought battle over marijuana is coming back to the forefront. The Hemp Industries Association is challenging a rule by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that outlaws the marijuana derivate "cannabidiol."

It is a feud that dates back so many administrations and generations ago, like the Hatfields and the McCoys, that some have forgotten how it started.

Ending a story that may never be told in court, UC Berkeley School of Law has settled a controversial sexual harassment case against the school and its former dean.

Sujit Choudhry, who resigned as dean last year after a former assistant sued him for sexual harassment, has settled the case. So has the university, which will pay $1.7 million to Tyann Sorrell and her attorneys.

Although the settlement agreement with the university is confidential, it has already been released on the internet. It does not admit liability and contains no details of Sorrell's allegations.

"This has been a long and challenging road for herself, her family and the campus community," said Leslie Levy, who represented Sorrell in the case. She and the university declined to comment further.

He succeeded, landing in a higher-ranked law school and paying less for tuition. It turned out to be the best move in his legal career, and it was easier than he expected.

"Even if it doesn't end up panning out, it's still totally worth it to try," he told the ABA Journal. "I think a lot of people would really kick themselves in the butt if they knew they could do it and didn't."

If you're looking to make an impact, however small, on human rights and legal education, consider checking out "The Promise" this weekend. The film, which stars Christian Bale and debuts on Friday, tells the tale of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, which saw as many as 1.5 million Armenians massacred.

You won't just be watching a movie, though. You'll be helping support UCLA law school's new Promise Institute for Human Rights. The institute will be funded by $20 million in proceeds from the film and will dedicate itself to research and advocacy on genocide and human rights.

"We believe we have looked at every realistic option to continue a successful law program," said Alan Lund, the board's chairman said in a statement. "Unfortunately, these efforts did not lead to a desired outcome."

The law remains one of the most homogeneous professions in America. But when it comes to efforts to bring a little more diversity into the nation's biggest law firms, you'd expect strong support from those firms' junior lawyers, right? After all, Millennials aren't just the most diverse generation today, they're significantly more likely than their elders to view diversity and inclusion as an important factor when considering a job.

Yet, when it comes to diversifying the legal profession, Millennial associates' enthusiasm for diversity is significantly lower than their firm's partners', according to a new survey.

Too much for Judge Tara Flanagan, who won her race for the Alameda County Superior Court in 2012 but is still paying for some campaign loans. Flanagan borrowed $25,000 from her campaign treasurer to run for the job, but it's not the interest on the loans that is the problem.

United Airlines lost the case when Ellen Degeneres, Esq., took the stand.

Commenting on how the airlines forcibly removed one of its passengers, the comedienne told her television audience that it upset everyone on the flight. Chicago airport police literally dragged 69-year-old David Dao off the plane.

For how difficult they are to obtain, law licenses have a ridiculously short reach. Go to law school, cram for a bar exam, jump over dozens of state bar admissions hurdles and voila, you're ready to begin your legal career -- in a single state or just a handful, depending on your original state bar's reciprocity agreements.

That means that if you want to switch from, say, lawyering in L.A. to a career in Chicago, you may need to retake the bar exam. So, just how terrible, horrible, gruesome, and horrific is taking a second state bar exam?

You can't ask for much more than having fun, getting paid, and maybe grabbing a decent slice of pizza on the side. This week's cool legal jobs hit all three of the above bases.

As part of our affiliate relationship with Indeed, we've rounded up some of the most exciting legal jobs we could find, including a spot with a major sports team, one at the cutting edge of banking, and one with, well, Papa John's.

The deaths appear unrelated, except for the fact that both victims worked at law firms five blocks from each other. It almost goes without saying that law firm life is notoriously stressful, as the American Bar Association acknowledges on its website.

Chad wonders whether he should mention his years at Choate when interviewing for a 2L summer associate position at Kirkland & Ellis. Bronwyn wants to include her water polo championship on her resume for K&L Gates, next to that alternative spring break work in Honduras, of course.

Should they? Yes, Chad should. But no, Bronwyn should not. Turns out that class signifiers, like boarding schools and blue-blood sports, make firms more likely to hire wealthy men for summer associates spots, while harming the chances of female applicants.

To get into a good law school, you not only need a high score on the LSAT and a decent undergrad GPA, you need some recommendations. At least two letters of recommendation, to be specific, one of which should probably be from a former professor. But as you run around begging others to sing your praises, then upload those praises to LSAC, you might wonder, is any of this worth it, when schools are much more likely to make their decision based on your hard numbers?

That is, do those letters of recommendation even matter? The answer is: probably.

According to reports, these are the worst test results since bar examiners started keeping track. It is the third year in a row that test scores have fallen a full point, showing a trend that suggests even more students will fail the bar exam this year.

Over five decades, Bob Dylan has left an indelible mark on American culture and music -- and even on the law. His lyrics are cited in judicial opinions more than any other writer's, winding up in everything from federal administrative law opinions (citing "Like a Rolling Stone") to state consumer fraud rulings ("It Ain't Me, Babe").

But Dylan's influence reaches beyond rhetorical flourishes and poetic asides, according to Vermont Law professor Philip N. Meyer. Dylan has had "a profound influence upon lawyers and judges, especially mid- to late-career baby boomers like myself," Meyer argued recently in the ABA Journal.

Most of the time, I try to write with some empathy, objectivity, or insight.

But when I am out of my element, I rely on the experiences of others or I default to attempts at humor. With that said, I confess I have never breastfed -- at least not since I was an infant.

I have been a law student, however, so let me share what little I learned about lactation accommodations in law school. Apparently, there are not that many, but some schools are finally beginning to add accommodations for new mothers.

It's a sad day for the legal
community in Chicago. Cook County Associate Judge Raymond Myles was fatally shot
outside his home in Chicago's South Side this morning. Judge Myles was killed in
what appears to have been a robbery attempt gone awry. A woman he was with was
shot in the leg and hospitalized.

Myles, 66, had been involved in
adjudicating several high-profile cases during his years on the bench, including
the trial of William Balfour, who was convicted for killing several of
Jennifer Hudson's relatives.

But these are lawyers suing lawyers, and there is nothing usual about their lawsuit. Kerrie Campbell, a partner at the 400-lawyer firm of Chadbourne & Parke, sued the firm for $100 million for underpaying women. The partnership sued back for breaching confidentiality and smearing the firm.

Now, after eight months of litigation, Chadbourne is thinking about letting the partner go. Ya think?

If you want a cool job, they're out there. The internet is virtually flooded with openings in interesting practice areas or with exciting companies.

Just take this week's batch for example. As part of our affiliate relationship with Indeed, we've rounded up legal openings at Google, in Daimler, and with a tour company that promises to "surf you to the moon" -- or just take you snorkeling in Maui.

"The military has a very formulaic operations order process which is really important for communicating all the key information that you need," Frank said in the Yale News. "There are all these different components of moving pieces -- one second calling for fires on the radio, the next talking to your gunner and driver telling them to be somewhere else, etc. -- that you need to understand with great depth to be able to direct and switch between them with great clarity."

It was that experience -- applying discipline and taking command -- that has distinguished Frank and other veterans in law school. It is something that doesn't come naturally, but only after dedicated training.

According to reports, Sevier is actually trying to show that same-sex marriage is ridiculous. The former lawyer and Vanderbilt law graduate has been joined by an animal lover who wants to marry her parrot in this unusual, if not unnatural, quest.

Want to start a New Wave cover band, performing the greatest hits from Boy George and Flock of Seagulls? Have you always wanted to stick a neckerchief and sleeveless denim jacket and do your best "Born to Run," maybe backed by the F Street Band?

Go for it. Even when you're a millionaire, that cover-band cash could keep rolling in. That was one of the revelations in the White House financial disclosures released last week, which noted that White House counsel Don McGahn made $2.4 million at Jones Day last year, with a few grand on the side coming from the '80s cover band, Scott's New Band.

It takes a lot to change bar exam requirements, which figures in a profession built on a pedagogical approach that dates back to Socrates.

Times are changing, however, with things like the Uniform Bar Exam gaining traction in many states. Even California, with its feared three-day exam, is going to a two-day format this year.

But rarely in the annals of bar exam history have examiners been schooled like the Oklahoma Board of Bar Examiners. The Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the board's reading of an admission requirement like a disgusted law professor throwing a test back at a surly student.

"What kind of fried okra is this anyway?!" the court could have thundered.

A judge outside of Nashville, Tennessee is accused of trading sexual favors in exchange for dismissed fees, fines, even criminal charges.

Judge Cason "Casey" Moreland, of Nashville's General Sessions Court, was arrested last week and charged with obstruction of justice and witness tampering in connection to a quid-pro-quo scheme involving at least two women who obtained favorable judicial treatment after some hanky panky with Hizzoner.

After 15 months of training paralegal specialists, Washington's experiment produced a little more than a dozen "Limited License Legal Technicians." Not exactly a booming field, but at least it didn't blow up.